Music, books, film, and more

The Cogs in the Machine

Cognizant Machine. Fully aware, design technology.

The machine (my greater metaphor for life and the system we call society) is large and impressive, and I am nothing but another cog in the machine. This is my slice of the internet and I generally review music here. While I maybe just another cog in the machine, I am aware of the greater systems upon systems in place and the intended design. I hope that being cognizant of the machines role, I can affect and help shape the processes of creation and imagination. Imagine if you will a gear inside of a watch that knows the time. Cognizant Machine.

Hi, my name is Federico Jose Cuellar and I am starting this blog to contribute my time and energy into making something both amusing and readable. I basically review music, and movies, and books here, and just generally hang out with you the reader through the music of people more talented than I. Every so often I’ll post some original writing, that I feel like self publishing, so feel free to share away.

I welcome opinions of all shapes and sizes and I think that I can create a comfortable space you’ll want to return to.

I am 32 years old now. I finished college at George Mason University. This is my first real writing gig outside of school so I hope that isn’t painfully obvious. I studied Global Affairs and Conflict Analysis Resolution and I am a voracious reader and enthusiast of the liberal arts. I am currently signing up for classes FSCJ to study business administration, these are fairly new plans and I want to learn how to improve myself as a person so that I can excel in this highly competitive world.

I am not at all embarrassed about my tastes in music, I tend to have a sweet tooth and penchant for dance rock and pop punk, but I can move along to almost any genre given the right circumstances. I encourage all of my readers to collect the albums I recommend and only give out samples of other peoples work with full respect to copyright law and intellectual property rights.

Finally I want to talk a little about where I came from. I am a Salvadoran national by birth who has lived most of his life in Woodbridge VA. (about 20 minutes South of Washington DC). I have since transitioned to and reside outside of Jacksonville, Florida, and I am happy to call it home. I’d like to think I speak both Spanish and English fluently (albeit prone to spelling mistakes in both languages) but I am improving everyday. I have two wonderful brothers and two loving parents (I am in the cozy middle) who support and encourage me everyday.

I am also working on #projectjax which is a thought project I have been speaking about for some time now, basically I want to attend local shows in and around Jacksonville and promote and interview bands I think deserve more recognition. Northern Florida has an impressive music scene and I am happy to have already met and collected a backlog of bands I am ready to showcase soon. Mostly I want to raise awareness for these bands, and describe their music and live experience in language that will motivate people to check them out and expose new listeners hence growing the scene. I try and only review music that I like and think should be recommended so please share my blog if you listen to something you like on here, and come back frequently to check out future updates and discover new music.